Sunrisers Hyderabad entered the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after defeating Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier by 36 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
SRH's spinners were on target as they kept the bowling tight and restricted the Royals to 139/7 after 20 overs while chasing the target of 176 runs on a slow surface with large straight boundaries.
Spinners proved to be the difference in the end as Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin could not manage to take a single wicket in their eight overs combined and leaked 77 runs in eight overs. On the other hand, SRH's spinners gave just 57 runs in nine overs and distributed five wickets among them.
The Pat Cummins-led SRH set a 176-run target for the Royals in the do-or-die match in Chennai.
The openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tom Kohler-Cadmore provided a stable start. Cummins got the first breakthrough in the form of Kohler-Cadmore. He made just 10 off 16 balls.
Jaiswal displayed some aerial shots and was looking good before Shahbaz Ahmed dismissed him on the last delivery of the eighth over. He played a quick 42-run knock in just 21 balls.
SRH captain Cummins read the Chepauk pitch well and adjusted the bowling accordingly. He gave the ball to left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma right after Ahmed dismissed Jaiswal.
Sanju Samson struggled against the spin and lost his wicket to Sharma on the fourth delivery of the over.
Riyan Parag (6 off 10 balls) also tried to hit the boundary but was caught in the deep by Sharma off Ahmed's bowling.
Ahmed and Sharma bamboozled the strong middle-order of the Royals and left them reeling at 92/6 after 13.4 over with Dhruv Jurel and Rovman Powell at the crease. Ahmed's 3/23 is the third-best bowling figure for SRH in IPL playoffs.
Both batters spent some time at the crease but Powell struggled to connect the ball as Jurel timed the ball well and played an unbeaten 56-run innings off 35 balls.
Powell was finally holed out to Sharma in the bowling of T Natarajan in the 18th over. Trent Boult and Jurel were at the crease when Natarajan delivered the final ball of the 20th over which went for a single and SRH won the match by 36 runs.
Natarajan and Cummins took one wicket each whereas Ahmed claimed three wickets and Sharma grabbed a brace of wickets.
With the only wicket of Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Pat Cummins completed his 17 wickets in IPL 2024 which is second highest for any captain of any IPL franchise ever. He has one more match to overtake Shane Warner's 19 wickets.
Earlier, SRH were asked to bat first and could only manage to put 175 runs on the board after the completion of 20 overs. Trent Boult continued his habit of taking early wickets and struck thrice in the powerplay.
He dismissed the man in form, Abhishek Sharma on the last delivery of the first over to take the 29th wicket in the first over in IPL, which is highest for any bowler in IPL history. He is also leading in the tally of most wickets in the powerplay in IPL 2024 with 12 wickets.
Travis Head and Rahul Tripathi kept the scorecard moving with Tripathi being the aggressor. He made 37 off 15 balls including five fours and two sixes.
Sandeep Sharma, the master operator on tacky surfaces, made use of his skill sets to optimum effect and got rid of the set batter Travis Head in the 10th over. Sharma got him second time in three innings of the IPL.
Head has managed to score just 25 runs in 21 balls against Sharma in the IPL so far. With 402 runs in the powerplay of IPL 2024, Head has the second-most runs in any edition. David Warner made 467 for SRH in 2016.
Avesh Khan took three quick wickets and halted SRH from accelerating the scorecard. Shahbaz Ahmed and Heinrich Klaasen stayed at the crease for some time and stopped the wicket flow. Klaasen completed his half-century in 33 balls but Sandeep Sharma bowled him when he tried to shift gears in the death overs.
SRH were restricted to 175/9 after 20 overs. Khan and Boult claimed three wickets each whereas Sharma took two wickets. Spinners could not get any wickets as Yuzvendra Chahal achieved a notorious feat during the match. He became the bowler to concede the most sixes in IPL ever (224).
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SRH have entered their third final of the IPL and will face KKR who will play their fourth final on Sunday.
